15 June 2015

Traits of Exceptional Engineers

You don’t design your engineering culture by writing blog posts, or printing posters, it’s shaped by the people you hire and the things they do, and the traits you reward and celebrate.

Choose wisely, and deliberately. Know what you value, and why. It’s easy to form this list in hindsight, but for anyone growing an engineering team, I urge you to think upfront, spelling out what you value most, then fight to hire for, encourage, support, and celebrate those traits.

I’ve helped grow our engineering team from 4 – 40, and hope to keep building the best possible team for many years to come. Here are some of the traits that I think separate the great from the good, and why they’re important to me.